Main » A Little-Known STI Could Become The Next Dangerous Superbug, Doctors Warn

A Little-Known STI Could Become The Next Dangerous Superbug, Doctors Warn

12 July 2018

The news comes after health officials a year ago warned that millions of young people are shunning protection because risky sex has become acceptable once again, three decades after the Aids epidemic made condom use essential. Cases of syphilis are on the rise, there's something called super-gonorrhea going around, and according to BASHH, there's a new STI you can catch.

Thousands of women could become infertile every year thanks to an increasingly risky sexually-transmitted infection spread by people having unsafe sex on holiday.

One in every 100 British adults aged 18 to 44 are already thought to be infected with the Mycoplasma genitalium bug - known as MG.

Experts say a lack of test kits means it is regularly confused with chlamydia and treated with incorrect doses of antibiotics - building up unsafe antibiotic resistance which could see it soon become untreatable.

"The greatest outcome of this is for the women who present with pelvic inflammatory disease caused by MG, which would be very hard to treat, putting them at increased risk of infertility". This is made worse by the fact MG is often misdiagnosed, and can go untreated. "If practices do not change and the tests are not used, MG has the potential to become a superbug within a decade, resistant to standard antibiotics".

"These new guidelines have been developed because we can't afford to continue with the approach we have followed for the past 15 years as this will undoubtedly lead to a public health emergency", said Paddy Horner, senior lecturer in sexual health at Bristol University.

Like any STI, the best way to prevent MG is by using condoms.

"It's about time the public learned about Mycoplasma genitalium", Greenhouse said. Even if you have a regular partner, it's best to get tested at least once a year.